Israeli who shot bulldozer terrorist saw himself as 'messenger from God'

The first man who shot the second bulldozer terrorist in Jerusalem felt he was "a messenger from God," according to a weekly pamphlet called OurIsrael.

Yaakov Asael, from the southern West Bank settlement of Susya, refused to be interviewed by the mainstream media following the July 22 bulldozer attack on King David Street.

However, he told OurIsrael that he believed "God planted me there. I personally witnessed Divine Providence. I saw the tractor knock into a car and continue driving. I stopped my car and ran toward him. I shot through a side window until I saw he was out."

The bulldozer driver injured 16 people before he was shot by Asael and a border policeman. This came three weeks after another bulldozer operator staged an attack on Jaffa Road, killing three people and injuring dozens before he was shot and killed.

OurIsrael asked Asael how he "explained the fact that in all the latest terrorist attacks, religious citizens and settlers stopped the terrorists, and not the police?"

Asael answered that he believed God was "shaming the police and all the evil ones for their deeds. We are the anti-heroes and the weakest, and nevertheless we are the ones who Hashem [God] helps."

SOS Israel, the organization that publishes OurIsrael, gave Asael a NIS 1,800 prize and a medal for his act. The group describes itself as opposed to political accords with the Arabs that include security concessions.